Thread: Disco 300 TDI oil leak on FL brake/swivel hub [photos included]

That's nothing!

My Rangie is so bad that when I lie underneath to grease the propshafts, I come out looking like a dalmation from all of the drips that have landed on me in the 3 mins I have been laying under it.

My swivels leak so much that the tyres throw the oil into the wheelwell.

To answer your question, the swivel seal is a bit of a pig to change, but not particularly technical. Never done it on a "modern" landy but would imagine it is much the same as a series.

The seal has to be fitted from the diff-side of the ball, so you have to actually remove the swivel ball. This means removing everything that is stuck to it. As I said - not hard, but requires effort.

Originally Posted by Shonky

The seal has to be fitted from the diff-side of the ball, so you have to actually remove the swivel ball. This means removing everything that is stuck to it. As I said - not hard, but requires effort.

Actually, you don't have to remove everything attached to the swivel. All you need to do is disconnect the brake hose and steering arms, then undo the bolts that hold the swivel assembly to the axle housing.

I did my RR one Christmas Day. Both swivel seals replaced including removing shims to increase swivel preload done in a few hours. I did have hoist access. IIRC I may have even posted some pics.

The swivel ball looks to have some decent grooves running across it, in the top pic, might pay to check with your fingernail how bad they are. If they are deep you may have to get a new swivel ball, Regards Frank.

4WDs Melb. do or used to do, a 'split' seal so that all the disconnection wasn't necessary. You just slipped it over all the gubbins.

With all that oil smeared onto the brake rotor, your braking wouldn't be the best

My old Rangie had 2 Grease nipples fitted to the housing. All the oil was replaced by grease topped up through the Grease nipples.
It ran for years like that!

I don't know if it can still be done, but it sure made the job easy!

Originally Posted by Tank

The swivel ball looks to have some decent grooves running across it, in the top pic, might pay to check with your fingernail how bad they are. If they are deep you may have to get a new swivel ball, Regards Frank.

Thanks for bringing this up, I did have a check with my fingernails. They are all smooth. The flash on the camera made them appear like grooves.

Originally Posted by It'sNotWorthComplaining!

With all that oil smeared onto the brake rotor, your braking wouldn't be the best

Until I get this fixed, I have been counting 4 mississippi gaps between vehicles infront of me. The day I noticed that I had bad brakes was when I was driving home at 4am in the morning in the rain going slow down a declining road where it ends with a giveway t-intersection. I slid straight out onto the intersecting road with all the wheels locked up. I was very lucky nobody was actually travelling on the road. So to avoid any nasty accidents I haven't been driving it at all in the rain. The trip to MR Automotive is going to be scary.